Shares declined on the two national stock exchanges on Friday morning. — VNA/VNS Photo

Shares declined on the two national stock exchanges on Friday morning, dragged down by slumps from heavyweight stocks.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged down 0.41 per cent to end the morning’s trading at 956.32 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also decreased 0.42 per cent to 106.85 points.

More than 130 million shares worth a combined VND2.7 trillion (US$116.5 million) were traded in the two markets.

Blue chips were the main drag, with 19 of the 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on the main bourse in HCM City losing value, while only six advanced.

FLC Faros Construction (ROS), a subsidiary of FLC Group (FLC), was the biggest loser with the share price going down 2.32 per cent following the news that Le Thi Ngoc Diep, wife of FLC Chairman Trinh Van Quyet, has registered to sell her entire stake of 26.6 million ROS shares, equivalent to 4.7 per cent of the company’s capital.

If the transaction is carried out successfully, Diep will no longer own any shares in her husband’s company.

Besides ROS, other major stocks such as Vietinbank (CTG), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Mobile World Group (MWG), VPBank (VPB), Vinamilk (VNM) and Vietcombank (VCB) also slumped and weighed down the market.

On the other side, market supporters included PV Gas (GAS), brewer Sabeco (SAB) and Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ) with small gains of less than 1 per cent each.

Afternoon trading started at 1pm. – VNS